FIFA proposals to expand World Cup finals to 48 teams slammed by former England captain Terry Butcher: 'It's pants. I have never heard anything so ludicrous in my life'

Controversial plans to expand the World Cup finals to 48 teams were slammed as ‘ludicrous’ on Tuesday.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants to beef up the tournament by adding 16 teams to the current 32-nation format and the proposal will be discussed this month at a meeting of the FIFA Council. If successful it would see almost a quarter of FIFA’s 211 member nations taking part from the 2026 competition.
The radical plans, announced in Colombia this week by Infantino, would put 32 teams in a preliminary knockout round in the host country. The 16 winners would then join 16 seeded teams in... read more

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